Date: 8 Dec 2009 Comments: 0

When you are next travelling through an airport take a few moments to look at how clean it is. Do you see litter on the floors, discarded food containers and cups, spilled drinks and food on the floors? No you don’t.

Most busy airports need an army of cleaners to keep their terminals clean and usable while so many passengers pass through. They perform their work while surrounded by busy people headed off on business trips and harassed families going away for their annual vacations. There are countless fast food outlets who appear to have conspired to serve up their food in enough packaging to fill and refill all of the airport bins several times over every single day.

Marie is an airport cleaner at Glasgow’s busy international airport. She has worked at Prestwick as well as Aberdeen and Edinburgh airports but she says that she prefers Glasgow as it is so much busier.

A typical day for Marie and those in her team will start at 4 a.m. when she starts the early shift, cleaning the airport terminal ready for the next wave of travelers to pass through the airport doors. She told us that the biggest daily problem she must deal with is unattended luggage. ‘Even with the heightened awareness of terrorism people can still forget and wander away from their bags. When I come across a bag that is not with anyone I am required to report it to airport security. Some poeple can get quite upset when their hand luggage is treated like a bomb.

Marie says that although she doesn’t encounter very many rude or obnoxious passengers it does happen sometimes. She said: ‘ Last week a drunk man decided to be sick on the floor that I had just polished’.

In addition to unattended bags and obnoxious travelers Marie has to deal with the things that people leave behind. She said: ‘These days I find a lot of mobile phones, mp3 players and laptops. I’ve even found baby’s pushchairs, toys, medicines and I even once found a false leg.’

A key skill of anyone working as an airport cleaner is the ability to deal with people. ‘The ability to remain calm when a passenger is panicking because they may miss their flight is definitely a bonus’ said Marie.

Remember: You will get the best deal on Glasgow airport parking, Aberdeen airport parking or Edinburgh airport parking by booking in advance to get up to 60% off the normal cost.